Rittman Orchardshttps://rittmanorchards.com
Fruits and Vegetables That Are Exceptional By NatureSat, 17 Feb 2018 15:47:10 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4https://rittmanorchards.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cropped-Rittman-Orchards-apples-logo-114x114.jpgRittman Orchardshttps://rittmanorchards.com
3232Christmas Open House This Saturday. And Lots of Other Holiday Goodness.https://rittmanorchards.com/christmas-open-house-this-saturday-and-lots-of-other-holiday-goodness/
https://rittmanorchards.com/christmas-open-house-this-saturday-and-lots-of-other-holiday-goodness/#respondWed, 06 Dec 2017 02:35:44 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=3234Between the market and Bent Ladder this year, we have so many exciting things going on for the Holidays! I usually don’t talk much about Bent Ladder over here on the Orchard site, but with this post being all about our holiday activities, I’d be remiss if I didn’t briefly mention a few things going on over there.

First up are two classes over at Bent Ladder that we’re extremely excited about–A Sip and Create ornament-making workshop this Friday and a Sip and Paint this Saturday. Click the link or the respective photo below for more details. They’re also hosting what they’re calling Happy Holiday Musical Showcases, where local artists put their spin on traditional songs.

But back to the farm market side of things. We now have our gift boxes setup online that we ship every year. Last year I expanded the offerings and put them online, and it was a big hit. This year we’ve also put together some great gift baskets that you can order online and pick up. We pack them (and the boxes) to order so that everything is very, very fresh, so please order ahead. We’ve got some really fun combinations including our apples, a lot of Ohio products, chocolates, and OUR COOKIES!!! Check out the Shop online or click the photo below.

And that brings us to our “main event”–our annual Christmas Open House on the 9th. This Saturday, we’ll have lots of great Christmas gift ideas including our gift boxes and baskets on display, sampling, Christmas music by Bruce Walker from 1-4pm, a visit by St. Nick and lots more Christmas-y goodness. Don’t miss out!

p.s. One brief note of housekeeping. We’ll be closing on December 24th at 2pm, and then closed both the 25th and 26th to spend some time with our families. We’ll also be closing on December 31st at 2pm. Thanks!!

]]>https://rittmanorchards.com/christmas-open-house-this-saturday-and-lots-of-other-holiday-goodness/feed/0Everyday Online Bakery Ordering Is Here!https://rittmanorchards.com/everyday-online-bakery-ordering-is-here/
https://rittmanorchards.com/everyday-online-bakery-ordering-is-here/#respondWed, 29 Nov 2017 15:38:55 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=3217Getting everyday bakery ordering set up online has been a challenge for me. This past year I’ve played around with quite a few different options. None of them were satisfactory, so I never got it up and running. For the holiday ordering, I’ve been individually setting up each bakery item, and then the date/time slots for customers to select for pick up. Although it was time consuming, that worked fine for specific holiday dates a few times a year. But to work for everyday orders, every single day I would have to change the dates that were available. So that wasn’t going to work. I admit to not being the best at coding, but I knew there had to be a better way. And then I figured out how to set up pick up appointments (this is starting to sound infomercial-ly!).

Anyway, I think this system will work pretty well for us. In every bakery item, there is a drop down box to select your pick up time. I’ll still set up time slots for our big baking holidays so that we know which orders to bake first on those days. But for everyday orders, you just select “Non-Holiday.” When you get to Checkout, your shipping on bakery items will be set to Local Pick Up (sorry, we still can’t ship bakery), and you will be asked to select a date for your “pickup appointment.” You can select anywhere from 2 days away to 6 weeks out. Then you complete the rest of checkout. That’s it!

I also added our Baker’s Dozen Cookies online. You can order mixed dozens or specify a particular cookie. That’s one thing that’s been previously missing from our online ordering.

The weather finally broke today to be a little more fall-like. It’s been miserable picking (or being outside in general) this last week. I’m sooo happy for some 60s and low 70s!

The heat has kept us ahead of schedule on harvest. The positive (at least for me) is that harvest will be over sooner than normal, and I’ll actually be able to catch my breath pretty soon. The negatives are that it probably means being done with u-pick apples sooner than normal, and without any cool nights, the apples don’t always color as well.

Squash and Pumpkins – We’ve started harvesting our winter squash. We have acorn and butternut now. We also have started getting some pumpkins around the market, and u-pick will start on them this weekend (see below). It’s been hard getting enough pumpkins picked for the store (with how fast the apples have been ripening, we’ve needed everyone picking apples which are much more time sensitive than pumpkins), but we’re working on it.

U-Pick – Lots of news regarding u-pick again this week. Today and tomorrow, we’ve got Jonagold, Melrose, Red Delicious, and a few Golden Delicious available for picking around the market.

On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll have u-pick on top of the hill from 10am – 5pm on Saturday and from 11:30am – 4:30pm on Sunday. We have Jonagold, Melrose, Golden Delicious, and I think a few Crimson Gold up there. We’ll be picking in the same place as last year (and last weekend), but this year you’ll be driving up. Our wagon just couldn’t keep up with the people. We’ll have a check-in table up there with picking bags and an iPad with Square so we can take cash or credit cards. If you come outside of those hours, you can still pick apples, you’ll just be around the market instead of on top of the hill.

Also during those same weekend hours (and next to the apples on top of the hill and working out of the same tent), we’ll have u-pick pumpkins going. We planted a field of pumpkins there this year so we could have u-pick in an accessible place…since we landscaped around the cidery and have seating outside, we had to move the old field.

Remember to stay current with what we have available in the market and for u-pick with our What’s Ripe page, which I update daily this time of year.

This Weekend’s Fall Festival Activities

Our Fall Festival Weekends will run every Saturday and Sunday from September 23rd through October 15th. They’ll include pick your own, live music, food trucks, and a lot more. The activities at specific times are listed below.

We just got in a new order of syrups, glazes and jams from Simple Products. This is a company from Millersburg, Ohio. They have wonderfully unique flavors like Peach Praline, Rhubarb & Wild Ginger and Jalapeno & Lime. Come check them out and try something new!

I would also like to give a quick plug to our other business, Bent Ladder. Our winery and cidery is going great. I enjoy ending my Friday and Saturday nights with delicious food and live music! In addition to these weekly events, we are also hosting monthly theme nights. The last Thursday of every month, we will be hosting a coloring night. Coloring has become huge thing lately and I love to color! Bring your coloring books and utensils to drink a little and enjoy a relaxing night at the winery. The first Thursday of every month, we are hosting a game night! You can bring your own board games or come prepared to learn something new! We hope to see you on some Thursday night in the future! And please note, the winery is 21 and over after 6pm.

In a classic case of being careful what you wish for, we got some rain this week, but it came with a little bit of hail. It didn’t ruin anything, but we do have a lot more to sort out now, mostly on the west side of the trees (the direction the wind was blowing from). The good news is we now have a cidery, so anything in bad shape can still be put to good use. It’s only been the second hail since we bought this place in 2004, so I guess I can’t complain too much. Anyway, here are this week’s highlights:

Peaches – We’ve done one picking of our last variety of peach for the season, Encore, and we’re currently sold out. In the next day or two, we’ll go through and finish picking. There’s not a ton left out there, so I don’t imagine they’ll last long when we do.

U-Pick – We’ll probably be starting a little bit of u-pick apples with Jonagold in a week or so. I don’t have an exact date. If we open for picking, I’ll post it all over social media, and regardless, by the next newsletter, I’ll know more.

Stay current with our What’s Ripe page, updated daily this time of year.

]]>https://rittmanorchards.com/this-weekends-orchard-updates/feed/0Peaches, and Apples, and Plums…Oh My!!https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-and-apples-and-plums-oh-my/
https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-and-apples-and-plums-oh-my/#commentsSun, 13 Aug 2017 13:21:03 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=2314It’s been another busy week outside at the Orchard. This time of year it’s hard to keep up with picking since we grow so many things. It seems like everything starts being ripe at the same time!

Apples – We’ve picked a lot of apples this week! New additions are Redfree, Sansa, St. Edmunds Pippin and Ginger Gold. I started spot picking a few Zestar! this week also. Until they ripen a little more our quantity of Zestar! is limited, but by the beginning of next week, I imagine I’ll have a ton ready to go. Next up will probably be Summer Rambo in a few days.

Peaches – We still have loads of peaches and several later varieties that haven’t started yet. This week we’ve mostly been picking Coralstar and Flamin’ Fury PF-19, with a smaller mix of Starfire and Redhaven as we clean up those trees. We also have our Sunglo nectarines, and I just started picking our Blushingstar white peaches.

Plums – Our earliest prune plum variety is ripe now–Castleton! It’s a great all around plum, good for eating and baking.

Pears – I just picked our Sunrise pears. Our first Asian pears should be ready in a few days.

Veggies – We’re running low on broccoli until fall, but I think everything else remains the same. The new addition this week is our heirloom tomatoes are ripe.

U-Pick – Blueberries are over until next June. We still have a handful of late ripening red raspberries, and some really nice blackberries. The blackberries are thorny, though, so as I’ve said before, I recommend a glove to move the canes out of the way and then pick with your other hand. After the berries are over, our next u-pick crop won’t be until mid-late September, when we open the u-pick apple block.

Stay current with our What’s Ripe page, updated daily this time of year.

]]>https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-and-apples-and-plums-oh-my/feed/2Peaches, Veggies, and More Crop Updateshttps://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-veggies-and-more-crop-updates/
https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-veggies-and-more-crop-updates/#respondFri, 28 Jul 2017 17:28:13 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=2285The temperatures have finally gone down just a bit, so I can’t complain about the heat as much now…. We’ve been picking peaches and vegetables non-stop all week.

Peaches – We’re rotating through three varieties right now: Flamin’ Fury PF-9, Starfire, and Redhaven. When I say “rotating,” it’s because we re-pick each tree every two to three days until there’s nothing left to make sure we’re picking the peaches at exactly the right time. It requires a lot more work to do things this way, but it’s one of the main reasons our peaches are so good.

Apples – We finished picking the Pristine, so we have a good supply of this excellent summer apple. If you haven’t baked or cooked with Pristine yet, you should try it in a pie or for sauce. A lot of orchards that grow summer apples have completely replaced their Lodi and/or Transparent with Pristine. We’re not thinking of doing that at this point, but I do think it’s a much superior apple to the other two. We also have just a little bit of McIntosh left from the fall.

U-Pick – There are still some good blueberries left on our late varieties. There are also some blackberries, and very small scattering of red raspberries. The blackberries are pretty thorny, so if you’re picking, I advise a glove to move the canes around. The good berries like to hide in the canes. U-pick is almost over for us until we start u-picking apples in late September.

Veggies – My dad started picking our first sweet corn this week, so we’ve got our delicious bicolor corn in the market now. We’ll have white corn ready soon. We also started picking our eggplant this week. I’m trying two new varieties this year. We have a long skinny one and a short fat one. If you have any opinions on it after you try it, please let know. More vegetables are coming soon.

You can always stay up to date on availability by checking out or What’s Ripe page. I update it daily this time of year.

(Sort Of) New Hours – Since we’re almost done with u-pick berries, starting next week we’re not going to have the early u-pick hour any more. We’re going back to our 9am opening time on Tuesdays-Saturdays. Our full hours are Tues-Sat 9-6 and Sundays 11-5.

]]>https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-veggies-and-more-crop-updates/feed/0Pristine Apples and a Crop Updatehttps://rittmanorchards.com/pristine-apples-and-a-crop-update/
https://rittmanorchards.com/pristine-apples-and-a-crop-update/#respondFri, 21 Jul 2017 16:31:57 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=2272The heat is continuing to hurry everything along. We’re ahead of schedule picking most of the fruit by almost a week still! Hope you’ve been able to stay cooler than we have.

Apples – I picked the Pristine a couple days ago. We’ve got a really nice crop this year, and they have pretty good size. It’s a great baking and cooking apple, and once it ripens to the point of turning yellow, it’s got enough sugar to be pretty good eating as well. We’re about out of Lodi, but we still have a decent amount of Transparent left, as well as some McIntosh from last fall.

Peaches – We’re finishing up picking our earliest varieties already. We have a good amount on hand, and we’ll be moving into Redhaven and Starfire within the next few days. We also have some delicious donut peaches this year, both white and yellow flesh. They’re like a regular peach, but without the big pit, so they’re a squished shape…and they’re the perfect snacking peach! I’ll start picking our standard white peaches within the next couple days, and our early nectarines shouldn’t be too far behind.

U-Pick – There are still a pretty decent amount of blueberries left to ripen, so they continue to be open. The blackberries are starting to ripen, but they’re thorny, so I recommend a glove if you come to pick them. What works the best for us is to take your gloved hand and move the canes out of the way and pick with your non-gloved hand. Once you get it down, it works pretty well. The red raspberries are pretty much done, except for the small second crop on our early variety that’s starting to ripen. You’re welcome to mix whatever reds you can find with your blackberries, but if you come exclusively to pick reds, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Veggies – A lot of our summer veggies have been coming on the past couple weeks. We’ve got summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, kale, and 3 different kinds of beans. Cauliflower, cabbage, sweet corn, and a bunch of other things will be ready very soon.

Peaches – As is everything this year, peaches are early! We’re picking several varieties right now…Brightstar, Glenglo, and Flamin’ Fury PF-7 and PF-8. There are a lot ripe, so I’m not anticipating too many supply problems in the market; hopefully we’ll be able to keep stocked. We don’t offer peaches for pick your own.

Blueberries – We still have a lot of blueberries left to ripen, so we should continue having them both picked and for u-pick for some time still. If you’re picking your own, there are a lot of great berries out there, just note that some of our earliest varieties are totally picked out. So when you get to the blueberry patch, make sure to go in a few rows before you try to pick. We planted every two rows with a different variety, which means many various ripening times to spread our blueberry season out. The first rows you come to are the earliest to ripen, and they’re picked pretty clean at this point.

Other berries and small fruit – We’ve come to the end on the black raspberries and the cherries. There are still a few more red raspberries coming on, but we’re pretty picked out for this weekend. Hopefully by Tuesday we’ll have some more. We do have some really nice red currants right now.

Apples – We still have a few Lodi left and quite a bit of Transparent. Now is the time to get your green summer apples if you want to make some pies or sauce. We’ve run out of all of last fall’s apples except for Red Delicious, Stayman Winesap, and McIntosh. I’ll start picking our next summer apple, Pristine, in the next couple days.

This time of year things change almost every day, so we’re updating our What’s Ripe page every morning.

]]>https://rittmanorchards.com/peaches-and-other-crop-updates/feed/0Strawberries!!!https://rittmanorchards.com/strawberries/
https://rittmanorchards.com/strawberries/#respondSun, 04 Jun 2017 21:08:47 +0000https://rittmanorchards.com/?p=2007It’s been a great first week of strawberries here at the Orchard. Up until some spotty storms today, the weather has been perfect.

For the next few weeks, we’ll have u-pick open, and we’ll also be picking berries for the market as fast as we can. If you’re interested in u-pick, please read the following: When you arrive at the farm, please check in at the market to get your non-glass containers weighed and find out where to pick. If you don’t have containers, we have buckets for $1.25. The u-pick strawberries will be $1.60/lb, the same as last year. After picking, you’ll bring your berries back into the store to be weighed, or on busy weekends, a lot of times we’ll have a tent set up by the field to do check out there. We can take credit cards at the tent.

We’ve also expanded our hours for the summer. During berry season we open at 8am to allow for u-pickers to get an early start. Here are our new hours:

Tues – Sat 8am – 6pm
Sundays 11am – 5pm
Closed Mondays and some holidays
OPEN ALL YEAR
Please note: The 8-9am hour is mostly for u-pick. We may not always be able to get a full selection of bakery or enough picked berries to meet demands until a bit later.

Anyway, that’s it for now. We’re looking forward to a delicious strawberry season!